We always want to look our best....

We want to provide a quality product that you our customers should receive each and every day. To do this we audit our trains and stations through the eyes of our customers.

We will do this for the duration of our franchise and we aim to meet the benchmarks set out in our franchise commitment for both stations and trains. These benchmarks are based on what our customers say are important to them.

To do this we have a dedicated team of service quality assessors who audit our stations and trains on a monthly basis in addition to our station managers, engineering teams and on board teams.

How does it work?

Northern are responsible for 478 stations across the North of England and run in excess of 2,000 services every day. Every 28 days our dedicated team of service quality assessors visit 159 Stations and audit 550 train carriages, to assess:

• The cleanliness of our trains and stations
• Identify any faults on board our trains or at our stations
• Appropriate signage is in place and visible
• The condition of our car parks 

For more information on what we audit please click this link

What do you do when you find a problem?

If our service quality assessors identify a issue or problem it's reported to the following teams for resolution:

• Faults at our stations are reported directly to our facilities management team
• Faults on board our trains are reported directly to engineering teams
• Issues in relation to cleanliness are reported to our on board and station cleaning teams

Any problems identified via our service quality assessors impact the overall score of the station or train. These results are then published and shared with Rail North Partnership who review our compliance and ensure we meet our franchise commitment.

To review the results from our audits please click here. 

What happens if you don't get it right?

Rail North Partnership monitor our results very closely and even carry out independent audits to ensure our compliance, Failure to meet the standards set out in our franchise commitment results in financial penalties to Northern and further action been taken by Rail North Partnership.   

For more information on the Rail North Partnership and their role click here.